Frankly, I Find It Bizarre

The rough and tough Red-tailed Tropicbird.

I am going to miss the albatross. How do people live without having thousands of albatross everywhere? I certainly don't know how I used to do it. Looking back on my pre-Midway life, a lot of it was pretty happy.....its good to know I was actually miserable. Seems like a pretty empty existence if you ask me. Midway must seem like a ghost town for the few months that they are not here......creepy.

I say this because there have been relatively few adults here lately. They caught the wind and left for greener pastures......er.......more nutrient-rich waters. There are 5 adults in the front yard right now and that seems like a lot. When I first got here there would be close to 50.

Last night I went spotlighting Laysan Ducks with Jimmy. I caught one with a hand-net, but it escaped. I will have my revenge soon. Jimmy got a couple though so it worked out ok......not to mention I found my lifer Bulwer's Petrel in a burrow so it was actually fantastic.

Tomorrow is our atoll-wide simultaneous duck survey.....I will check on Ole Blindy, hopefully he is gleefully (albeit blindly) nibbling on whatever ducks nibble on at the Aviary Seep. If he is not doing these things, Ole Blindy might be in a bit of a rough spot.

This week is heavy with marine debris work. Considering the high winds we are always having, it sucks. Usually its nice to be out on the beaches (especially the restricted-access ones!), but getting everything blown around while simultaneously being sandblasted isnt very fun. The monk seals like to make it interesting by hauling up into our plots while we are doing our surveys, as they know we have been told to stay 150 feet from them. Of course they just lie there smugly and pass out. Typical.



Red-footed Booby. Tangible perfection? Perhaps.